Living Life
by Lily the klutz
Summary: AU Just an ordinary day at the Potter House. J/L alive
1. The loving family

Living life.

Disclaimer: Oh yeah…Sure I own H.P and I'm currently making loads of millions of dollars on my five books. NOT! I'm as broke as they come, so naturally I'm not making money on this, and if I owned Harry Potter, don't you think I would be spending my time writing my sixth book in the series than a pathetic fiction story!

Summery: What if the Potter family had survived the horrible Halloween evening in 1981?

"Whake up mummy, whake up! It's bwreakfast time." A person yelled and was currently jumping excitingly up and down on Lily's legs.

Lily opened her eyes to look at the clock. 6.30? On a Saturday? She turned around to look at the person who had the courage to wake her up this early. On her day off!

"It's your wreeeeding tay! Daddy's making bwreakfast."

Lily could only smile at her adorable three-year old daughter Sami, who had stopped jumping up and down and now thrown her little body down next to her mother on the bed.

"Mor… Morn……Morning honnnney" Lily yearned.

Sami's emerald green eyes were now focusing on her mother. " Daddy says that the last one at bweatfast is a Swlyteryn!"

Lily smiled at her daughter. Her little Samantha was currently in the progress of learning to speak proper English. She and James had spent many hours laughing at their children, when they were learning to speak. There had been some very funny words.

"Slytherin honey. Sly-the-rin. Well I better get up then. Is everybody up?"

Her daughter nodded. Lily spoke again. "Okay, when. You better get down stairs. Tell daddy I'm on my way." Sami nodded and bounced off the bed and ran out of the room, her wild, almost-black hair flying everywhere.

After taking a shower (a very cold shower at that! That's the price for being the last one up in the Potter house hold) and getting dressed Lily proceeded downstairs, following the sound of laughter. She ended up…surprise-surprise…. in the kitchen. Lily stopped in the doorway and watched the scene that was playing out infront of her.

All eight of the children were in the kitchen. Three-year old Samantha was sitting in her chair, watching her father with big eyes and her usually big beautiful smile spread all over her sweet beautiful little face.

Seven-year old Andrew was currently laughing his head off, his glasses almost slipping off his nose. He looked, as his brothers did, like a copy of James as a child. He had just started in school this year and did not like it at all. According to him, it interfered with his play dates. He would much rather play with his mates all time or (if there was absolutely no other choice!) go to Hogwarts along with his older siblings.

Eleven-year old Elizabeth was giggling uncontrollable. Her emerald green eyes sparkling with laughter. Her long curly black hair with a hint of red in it bouncing from side to side on her back. She had just started at Hogwarts this year and was enjoying it. Finally she could see what her older siblings were babbling about when they were home in the holidays.

Thirteen-year old Jonathan was chanting "Go dad, go dad, go dad!" with a grin on his cute face. Jonathan was the only one who didn't use glasses of the boys. He was a third year at Hogwarts and a troublemaker. He idolised Harry for always getting into trouble. Much to Lily's displeasure.

Fourteen-year old J.J (James Junior) was busy making coffee and pressing orange juice, looking quite serious while doing it. He may have his father's name, but J.J was all Lily genes. Homework was his number one priority. He loved books and was nice and kind to everybody, which he himself saw as a giant flaw, since this was the reason he could not get a girlfriend. They all wanted to be his friend-yes, but girlfriend-no thanks. It was not that he wasn't good looking. All the Potters were good looking, but girls just weren't interested in him.

Fifteen-year old Catherine was currently busy making buns. ´Oh so it was a buns contest. Winner had to fill up five plates with buns. Her concentration focused only on making her dough. This made Lily smile. How much Catherine reminded her of herself at that age. She was competing against her father by the looks of it. Cat was the only one of the children with red hair. She was an exact copy of Lily in her younger days.

Fifteen-year old Josephine (twin to Catherine) was setting the table. Naturally everything was in perfect order. At the moment she was busy putting plates on the table. She looked very beautiful in the dress she was wearing. Both she and Cat were becoming women. (Unfortuenly! Hey, it sucks when your kids arent five anymore and are no longer demanding a bedtime story. That means they are getting older-which means you are getting older-oh the HORROR!) Josie has emerald green eyes, Braun-black hair and 5'4 tall. (She and her twin were cursed like her mother with a small high.) Josie was like her twin a natural at magic. She didn't really need to study. Magic came naturally to her. Like eating and breathing.

Even though the girls looked differently, personality speaking, they were very much like one and other.

Sixteen-year old Harry-her oldest son. Her firstborn. The one who had defeated lord Voldemort as a child, or at least made him disappear for fourteen years. He was quite the looker-with the exception of that horrible scar. Lily hated that scar…with a passion! It was a constant reminder of the day she almost failed as a mother.

Harry looked exactly like James, with the exception of his eyes. No wonder he was so popular. He was a sweet, handsome young man. Every mothers wish for a son-in-law. He was a loving big brother and extremely loyal to his friend. Especially to his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry was currently making pancakes over the stove in nothing but a pair of PJ buttons. Lily noticed he had a very firm stomach. Quidditch had been good for him, just like it had been for his father.

Lily's eyes drifted from Harry to his father: James. Her soulmate. Her other half. Today they would have been married for twenty years. The funny thing is that James didn't look a day over 28-year old. He was still very attractive. At the moment he was competing against his daughter in a bun-making contest.

Lily was always worried he was going to leave her. She only had two fears in life. One: That James would wake up one morning, look at her and leave her for another more attractive woman. Two: Her children would die before her. It had been a close call with Harry. After Voldemort had disappeared and James and Lily woke up, (they had only been stunned) Harry had blacked out and was in a coma for a month. Lily had never cried as much as she did that month. She and James would sit by his bed and only leave when Sirius forced them out of the room. The only thing that made her make it through that month was James. He had been her rock. He always had time for her, even with his job as chief auror. James was a good friend, great father, who loved children and one of top aurors in the world. And he still had time to be her husband. Their marriage had never been doll. And the sex….Oh God The Sex! James was a great lover and…. well with eight children, you tell me how you think the sex life is;-) James is amazing. There are no other words for it. He is just amazing…

"DONE!" Cat yelled and threw her arms in the air. "What!" James exclaimed. "You little cheater!" "I am not! I won fair and square. You are just a sore loser. Hand over the 5 Galleaons. "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" James mumbled and pouted, but Lily saw a little smile starting to form on his face.

James handed over the money to his daughter, secretly proud of her. Suddenly he felt the familiar trill down his spine. He turned around to look into the gaze of his wife's loving eyes. A smile instantly formed on his face. "Honey!" He jumped over to Lily and pressed his lips against hers ever as gently. As he kissed her softly, he lifted her of the ground as though she weighed nothing. She responded quickly and they kissed for a whole minute, before pulling apart. Then James whispered into his wife's ear "Happy anniversary, Love." Lily smiled as his breath against her ear sent the usually Goosebumps down her entire body. It still amazed her after twenty year; he could still do that. "You too, Mon Cherie." They looked into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity, completely oblivious to their children, who all shared a knowing smile.

Whenever their parents were in the same room, they had to be near each other. It was like seeing teenagers in love. It should be embarrassing, but somehow it had just become normal to them…and a sweet gesture. That morning they all ate breakfast together like they usually did on their parents' anniversary. All the children would get a special permission to go home for a week to their parents anniversary.

The family would spend the day together, then at night James and Lily would go out, while the children slept over at the Black's house. Sirius was co chief auror with James and married to the lovely Mary. They had twin together and loved the Potter children as much as they loved there own children.

James usually made the plans for their aniversary. Lily didn't mind though, because he always made her evening wonderful. Full of romantic surprices. Last year they went on a midnight picnic. James had everything planned. It was so romantic. But then again, just being near with James is romantic.


	2. Remembrance and Lack of Hangoverpotions

**Living Life**

Disclaimer: Okay, this disclaimer will count for every chapter I write. The reason I do this, is because I simply cannot remember to write it everytime. Here we go. I, Shootingstar86 do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters that can be found in J.K. Rowlings brilliant books. I do however own the plot and every character not recognizble from the books. Not that I gonna get rich from that!

Author's Note: On a popular request I shall continue writing this story. How long the story is going to be is up to you, my dear reader. I depend on the reviews I get, so basically it is your choice when I end the story.

I won't put any specific date on when I update, since I will be very busy until the end of June. It's exam time and because this is my final year, I have to get acceptable grades. So between school, homework and my job – there will be little time for writing. BUT since I do know how incredible annoying it can be to wait for the next chapter, I will update as soon as I possibly can.

_This sign xxxx´ is the sign for whenever people are thinking something. A sign for thoughts_

_This sign some of you may recognize: "xxxx" It stands for Direct Speech_

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**Mature adult themes are mentioned and described in this chapter! There is a reason I rated it M, people! If you do not like to read about these kinds of things, go back and find another story to read!**

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**So without any further explanations, welcome to Living life Chapter 2**

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"_The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."_

_-Oscar Wilde_

**Chapter 2 – Remembrance and the lack of hangover potions!**

A head dared its way over the covers, very cautiously and slow mind you, but was hit with a beam of sunlight directly into the face.

Hmm…Agh! Whazzat? Ahg, I'm blind! Stupid sunlight!...Sun bad!..where is the bad weather when you need it! I mean this England for the sake of the Lord. It's suppose to rain all the time! ´

"Mmm...Lily…You awake?"

"Nooo, I think I'm dead.I must have gone to Hell! I feel like I've been run over by the knight bus! Ahg, my head! James, make the pain go away! It huuuurrrrtttttssss!"

James chuckled at his wife. Whenever Lily got sick or hungover, she would be very needy (but unfortunately not in the good way) and sleepy. She reminded him of a sick child. He would get off early from work and go home to take care of his sick wife and those of his children, who were not away at Hogwarts yet. When Lily got sick, it was like there was another child to take care of in the family.

But contrary to the children, Lily happened to be quite the thinker when she was sick. (Not to say that she wasn't already a thinker. But when she got sick, she would take it the notion of a thinker and take it to the extreme!) Lily would say some very funny things and think of so many crazy theories that could make James laugh his arse off for weeks.

The last time the flu had gotten her, she was complaining about how goblins had gotten their reputation ruined by that muggle author Tolkien. Apparently he wrote a couple of books which kept turning up on the best-seller list in both the magical and muggle world.

In the books he had described goblins as fat hobbits (the lower class of goblins) who only thought of food and sleep. Lily thought that this misinterpretation of goblins was very misleading, and now it was no wonder why they would always snap at you in Gringotts and always have that evil smirk and gleam in their eyes. They are pissed and they want revenge-now!

According to Lily, the overcharging is only the first step of their revenge!

James had told Sirius about Lily's theory and Sirius, of course being Sirius thought, this to be hilariously funny and always told Lily told watch out for the revengeful goblins, whenever she went to Diagon alley.

And of course there was the time when Lily had gotten a cold and she had a very bad mood, because James had to go to work. When he got home, she told him about another theory she had figured out: God is suppose to be perfect, however he did make one single mistake: He created the Man. But of course he corrected it by creating the far more superior woman. So since the flaw has been corrected, once again God is perfect and once again James was out of breath from laughing of Lily's theories.

Lily…

No wonder, she had a hangover. James felt one coming one himself. Well, the pleasure they shared yesterday, was most certainly worth the pain of a hangover, he felt coming on headstrong.

One their anniversary yesterday, James had taken Lily out for dinner and dancing at the club. They called it The Club´, because they had helped out the owners, Remus Lupin and his young girlfriend Nymphedora Tonks with some of the financial problems. Tonks usually worked under James' crew as an auror, but whenever it became necessary she would go and helped out at the club. Because of his..ahh...condition...yes, lets call it condition, Remus was not allowed into in auror training program, so when he didn't had a restaurant to run, he taught part-time at Hogwarts. He had actually taught for a whole year in Harry's third year. Now because of the war, parents wanted the best to teach their children. And since most of the children could not stop bragging about this ´cool DA teacher that used to teach there, Remus had been asked to and come to Hogwarts three days a week to teach advanced DA.

Lily and James were one of couple, who were silent partners of The Club, which was still booming after eight years of buisness. Very impressive for a club, since the average life span for a club is six months to a year. (Remes and Tonks were in charge of almost everything with the exception of the finalcial matters, which usually were discussed with the Potters and the Blacks-the other couple who were silent partners.)

As always, Lily had looked amazing, even though she was dressed in a rather simple black mid-thigh short dress. Lily had a tendency to pick out simple, low priced dresses, but because of her natural ´Botticelli beauty she made the dress look simple, but very elegant. She didn't like to buy expensive things since she was raised with the saying: money does not grow on threes. Lily had always been very good with money and had spent many hours trying to teach the saying she was raised with onto the kids. So far, she had only succeeded with Harry and JJ. Unfortunately the rest of the kids still had to learn. But knowning Lily, she's not going to give up. As she said, when she finally, after years of trying, had accepted one of James' many proposales about going out together: There is nothing like a challenge!

After dinner, they danced the night away. After so many years of dancing at ministry balls and going clubbing with the other pair of silent partners Sirius and Mary, they danced almost as good as professional dancers.

They drank quite a lot of champagne –Lily's favourite drink, and when they returned home, drunk as hell, they had sex three times before finally falling to an exhausted and must needed sleep.

James smiled at the memories of last nights activities in the bedroom…and the living room…and kitchen. Making love to Lily was, apart from spending time with the children, his all-time favourite thing to do.

The gasps she would make, when he touched her certain part of her body. The way she would moan, when he caressed her small (but in James' mind: Perfect Sized) breasts. It was enough to make him want to grab her and just fuck her until she lost the ability to think at all. The most erotic thing on this earth, according to James, was to see his wife reach the peak of her orgasm as he made that final thrust into her. It was enough to make him come as well.

With these thoughts in his head and goofy smile on his face, James said "Honey, I think you should sleep some more. The kids are coming home at three, so you still have a couple of hours, okay?" The reply he received was grunt. "Okay, I take that a yes. Love you, Darling. I'll ask Hama to save you some lunch. She should be back from your parents place by now." He kissed his way down from her mouth to the collarbone and then got up, knowning if he did not stop they would soon be doing a repetition of last nights activities.

Of course, this should not be considered as a bad thing-not at all! But with a sick wife in bed, it probably wound not be very fun. The sick part kind of sucked out all the fun of it all.

James put on his black jeans and threw on a black undershirt and walked the long way down to the kitchen to find the kitchen House elf Hana.

When James married Lily, she had demanded that they would not live at the Potter castle, because it was so big. She had accepted the fact that he was probably one of the richest men in England and the sole heir to the biggest fortune in Brittain, but the size of that castle was too overwhelming for her.

Being from a small family and an average size house herself, the thought of living in a castle was a little too much. But with a war going on and the fact that they needed to go into hiding, she didn't need to worry. They bought a small house in Lord Gryffindor's hometown Godricks Hollow.

After the war had ended and they were sure Harry was alright, James wanted to move to Potter castle to avoid the press. Amazingly enough Lily agreed to the move.

Everyone wanted to talk to the parents of the boy-who-lived and the Death Eaters wanted revenged for the 'death' of their Lord.

It was hell on earth, especially when he and Lily found out that the remaining Death Eaters had burned down Potter castle and most of the remaining Potter estates around Brittain.

Finally Sirius convinced James to move away from the cities and live out in the country. Luckily enough, James' childhood home had not been touched by the Death Eaters and just so happened to be far away from the public´s eyes and well hidden in the beautiful English countryside. Although their new home was a rather big mansion, Lily accepted it.

James cound not for the life of him figure out, why she had agreed with him. Part of the beauty of their marriage was that any sign of disagreement was discust out in the open. Of course they got mad at each other and had huge fights, but the make up sex was well worth it the fighting and probably also the reason they had eight children. Dull did simply not exist in their mariage's dictionary.

Finally James reached the kitchen, still with a goofy smile on his face. "Hana? Are you here?"

"Yes Massa James, Hana right here is! Hungry issa Massa James? Hana make lunch right away!" A small Houseelf in a blue well-worn dress eagerly said.

"Thank you Hana, but that will not be necessary right now. I'll just grab one of your famous cheese and ham sandwiches and a handover potion if we have any left. But around three a clock the kids will come home, so would you mind making a light lunch for everybody?" James asked the elf, who had been responsible for all the good food he had eaten as a child.

Hana looked down on her feet and mumbled "Yessa Massa James. Hana make your sandwich right away. And later make lunch for rest of family Potter."

James could see that she was very pleased with his compliment about the sandwitch…oh no!

Not the gleam!

Oh Merlin, not the gleam!

Was it the… ?

It was!

Oh the horror! She had that gleam in her eyes again.

That would mean that James wouldn't be able to eat anything for the next three weeks. He would walk funny, because his stomach would be so full that it would be impossible to stand straight!

Merlin!

The last time he had been ill for a week, because he had eaten so much. How could he not!

After all, he was a man! It was his obligation to make sure he ate like a pig and tasted everything at least twice!

"Oh no Hana! When I said a light lunch, I meant a **LIGHT** lunch. I am NOT talking about a big formal dinner for two hundred of ministry employees!"

Hana had a habbit of going overboard with food. She was a brilliant cook, but for lunch she would cook a gourmet dinner. She simply loved it, whenever the Weasleys were visiting, since the Weasley boys were known for their eating skills. Not that the Potter boys had any problems keeping up with them. Since they were of the male gender they, of course, all ate like pigs that hadn't been fed for months.

How could they not? The food was just that good. Remus had even offered Hana a job at his club, if she should ever grow tired of the Potter family. Not that that would ever happen...

Hana loved the Potter family!

Hana had worked for James' parents, (which is the reason she calls James and Lily by their first name. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were James' parents and would remain so in her mind. Lily and James actually prefered it that way. It made them feel less old) so when they died Hana sought out the last Potter remaining on the earth, to offer her services.

Lily had been against it at first, claiming she was than capable of taking care of the children and the household, but James knowning how stubborn his wife could be, emotionally blackmailed her just like any good husband with a stubborn wife would do.

Lily really wanted to go back to finish her teaching degree, but with three small children and a big mansion with a large garden to take care of, there was simply no time for school or a job. Even though she claimed she had everything under control, James could see it had taken a lot out of her. And getting pregnant for the third time was not helping the matter.

So she finally said yes. She asked Hana if she would mind helping out Lily's mother every once and awhile, since the Evanses owned a restaurant in Muggle Bristol and their chef was often sick, but they did not have the heart to fire her. (Apparently she was rather old.) Hana had happily agreed. She loved to cook and would be honoured to help the lovely Missa Lily and her family.

Hana had seen the size of the mansion and decided that she could not keep the track of a household THIS BIG in her age, so she fetched the rest James' parents' house elves and brought them to the mansion. She asked James picked out how many of them he and Lily would keep and decide what to do with the rest, but for the love of Merlin- don't free them.

A very pregnant and at the time ´non-caring-and-only-focussed-on-her-swollen-feet-Lily asked James to pick out how many elves he wanted for the mansion.

James asked Hana for advice, since he had never been asked to do an assignment like this before in his life. Hana told James that she saw a lot of love between him and his wife, so naturally she foresaw a lot of children. They would need a big garden to play in and animals to play with. James trusted Hana, since she had been his mother's favourite houseelf, so he told her to make the choice and those she did not want working here, should go to Hogwarts, since there's always need of house elves there.

In the end Hana choose 35 houseelves and sent the remaining 94 to Hogwarts. According to Lily, 35 house elves were way too much, but James explained to her that if they wanted a big family, (and look-they got a big family! 8 kids!) and animals there, like there had been in James' childhood, they would need elves to help taking care of them, while James and Lily were working.

The thing is, out of all 36 (35 were choosen by Hana) Houseelves, only five of them actually dared to speak to the almighty Missa Lily and Massa James. The garden elf. (Lily loved that elf like she loved the gardens. He was a very old elf, but no less efficient!) The nanny elf, the stable elf, the cleaning elf and of course the kitchen elf Hana. The rest of elves pretty much disappeared from view, whenever any human came into the picture. Harry was actually under the impression until he was ten-years-old that they only had five Houseelves, because they were the only ones he had ever talked to.

"Hana do as Massa James asks her to do. Hana make light lunch. Sandwiches and similar food okay?"

"That will be lovely Hana, thank you very much." James said to the elf, who quickly ran into the pantry, only to return with two plates in her hands.

"Here Massa James are! Only one bottles left. Massa Sirius asked Hana for lots of hangover potion ten days ago. We fresh out." Hana said, while handing him two plates, each plate containing a rather big sandwich, but only one platehad the one lifesaving bottle. One of the plates was probably meant for Lily. Hana was always so thoughtful.

Being the good husband, James knew he had to give the potion to his wife. He groaned of the thought of having to deal with the fuld blown hangover he knew would come later on the day, and made a mental note to curse Padfoot into next week for stealing the rest of his precious stock of hangover potions. He thanked his Hana for the sandwiches and walked up the stairs to the bedroom.

James quickly walked through the house and up to the bedroom. Quietly sneaking into the room and placed the-much-wanted-and-so-going-to-get-me laid-tonight-hangover-potion on the nightstand beside the sleeping, redheaded beauty. He kissed her lightly on the mouth and walked out of the room.

James took a large bite into the sandwich to get that horrible taste of vommit he could suddenly taste in his mouth to go away. A thought occurred to him.

Funny, we spent seven year at Hogwarts, three years at the hybrid university and we are still nowhere near the solution of a better TASTING hangover potion. That would have been such a nice discovery… James knew that then Lily finally woke up and had to take the horrible potion, it would taste like rotten food. And then it would not be fun to be Lily Potter or her husband, who had to listen to her complaining about the stupid taste.

He brought his sandwich with him out on the terrace, sat down on the swing which was hanging down from a branch that was shading half of the little terrace.

I wonder if Mary has gone insane yet with ten kids in the house. Twelve with Padfoot and Moony.

Both of his best friends were crazy with children and loved to babysit, however the only responsible adult would be Mary. And the chances of her going insane from bring stuck with twelve children in 24 hours straight were getter larger the more time passed.

James chuckled and shallowed a piece of the sandwich.

The sun was nice and warm today. A good day to go swimming in the lake with the kids, Moony and Padfoot. Then again, Lily looked more than hungover. Probably catching a virus of some kind. Samantha had caugth a virus of some kind a couple of weeks back. She might have infected her mother, when she was sick. Perhaps the swimming should wait. The children were going back to Hogwarts on Sunday, so they still had three days together.

The children, his beautiful children. Of course he loved Samantha and Andrew, but he missed his other children like crazy, when they were at Hogwarts. He couldn't tease his sweet Miss Lizzie (Elizabeth) about her being asked for the first time. (Of course James had told the boys that they better warn off any guy, who was even trying to get close to their baby sister or they would see their father storming to Hogwarts and create a scene so embarrasing that they would never wish to set their feets within school grounds again. She was after all, daddy's little girl.

He missed talking to Johnny (Jonathan) about how he was going to set off the next prank. James had even given his son some ideas to pranking the Slytherins. After all, it is tradition!

Most people always thought that JJ took after Lily and never really had any connection with his father. How wrong they were… Even though they did not have the same priorities, they had always been able to talk about everything between heaven and earth. All of the kids were smart, but JJ was capable of thinking out side the box and a quick thinker. The arguments that kid could throw out on the table-James had a sneaky suspicious feeling that J.J might turn out to be the family's barrister. Whenever all the kids were home for the summer, every Wednesday JJ and James would sneak out after the others had gone off to bed, and go to this underground café, where a lot of academics went to have coffee and a good intelligent conversation. Not even Lily knew about this. It was a strickly father/son ritual. Even if James had to work, he would get Sirius or Moody to cover for him. JJ was more important than Death Eaters.

He loved to embarrass the twins with the tough father act, whenever they actually dared to bring friends and dates home with them. All though all of their friends thought James was hysterically funny, the twins did not! Those two were exactly like the young Lily he had fallen in love with. The resemblance personality wise between the three of them was actually quite scary!

And of course Harry. How could he not miss Harry? That kid had brought both him and Lily a serious amount of sleepless nights. That kid was always in trouble and he usually didn't even do anything wrong that would land him in trouble. Trouble came to him.

The times James and Arthur Weasley had been called to Hogwarts-they most have set some kind of record. And of course Lily and Molly tagged along some times so they could check in on Hermione Granger-Harry's other best friend. Her parents were muggles and could not come to Hogwarts, so Molly and Lily had promised Mrs. Granger to keep and eye out for her. Everything would have been so much easier if Harry just stayed home all year, however James knew that nobody should miss the Hogwarts experience, no matter how much trouble they were.

The entire Potter family had always been hunted by the press, but it had always been worse for Harry. They were like vultures. Never giving up. Lily and he had done a good job, trying to isolate their family as much as possible from the press. But because of Harry's adventures at school, the press became overly interested in him. Everybody wanted an interview!

In Harry's first year, the DA professor had been a wanna-be-Death-Eater with Voldemort's spirit hidden in the back of his head. Voldemort had been after the stone hidden at Hogwarts. Harry being just as stubborn as Lily if not more, had figured it all out, so with some help from his new best friends he saved the day, but ended up in the hospital wing. When Lily and James had received an emergency owl from the school they had flooed to Hogwarts and yelled at all the teacher, including Dumbledore for not taking care of Harry. Before Harry had started in school, Lily had written a letter to all of the teachers, warning them about Harry's luck and his habbit of always ending in trouble.

One of the highlights that year was when Lly and James were called to Hogwarts by Dumbledore. Harry had been chosen to play seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team, but being a first year he needed his parents consent. James, with tears of joy in his eyes, signed immidiately without talking to Lily about it.

Second year Harry had once again saved the day by defeating a young Voldemort a.k.a. Tom Riddle, who had used a poor naive young Ginny Weasley who had had some problems adjusting to Hogwarts. Harry had killed the huge snake that had been terrorizing the school. The Golden Trio, as Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had been named by all of the teachers and students, had struck once again. Luckily for Ginny, the Josie and Cat decided they like a girl with spunk and now the three were never seen without the each other-kind of like the Golden Trio.

In Harry's third year James' old friend Peter Pettigrew had escaped the wizarding prison Azkaban by using his animagi form. He had been trying to kill Harry as an attemp for the death of his former master. Sirius, Remus and James had been stationed on Hogwarts as supervisors to the dementors' behaviour on school grounds. Lily wanted to come too, but being pregnant with Samantha was a major con on the pro and cons list. Luckily they caught Pettigrew and he was sentenced the Kiss by the paranoid minister of magic, before Dumbledore and the rest of the Marauders could say anything.

James groaned at the memory from Harry's forth year. The year everybodies favourite bastard had returned to caused a little mayhem. For a forth time Harry had to fight the bastard and luckily won again. It was getting way to close with these near death calls. And of course that stupid reporter-Rita Skeeter. Ahh! James usually did not hit women, but he nearly made an exception with this one. Fortunately Hermione Granger being the smartest witch of Harry's generation, had something up her sleeve to blackmail the dear Rita-and it worked!

Oh! Let's not forget last year, where the Order of the Phoinex had to be called together again because of that foolish minister! He overruled Dumbledore and hired that…that….thing as the new DA teacher. From what the kids had told him, there was one word to describe her: Idiot! And to top it all, Voldemort had been sending Harry mental pictures of the department of mysteries. He even went as far as sending mental pictures through the conection the two unfortunately shared. Voldemort tricked harry into believing that Voldemort was torturing Sirius and James as a way of getting information. Harry had travelled along side Ron, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Josie and Cat and the Black twins to ministry of magic to save Sirius and James. Luckily the Order got there in time to prevent anyone from our side getting killed. Well almost-a young auror who had been a good friend to Harry had died protecting Harry from Bella Belletrix. Harry was still hurting from that event. The nightmares were still there, but from what his Harry-Spy (Ron)had informed James, Ginny was helping him. She, being rather experience in the area of nightmares since her first year, would calm him down and talk to him until dawn. Lily had confided in James that she would love to have Ginny as a daugther-in-law and had blackmaild Josie and Cat into matching Ginny and Harry together. The twins being hopeless romantics just like their mother, were very keen on the idea, even if they had to match their best friend up with their big brother!

James swallowed the rest of his delicious sandwich and enjoyed the taste. He looked on the sky. The sun was playing Sami's favourite game: hide and seek! It was currently hiding behind a large grey cloud.

Grey…

The world had turned grey as soon as the ministry finally had publically announced an apology to Dumbledore and Harry for not believing in them and that you-know-who was back in action. People were terrified! Especially when it was announced that the minister himself had tried hide you-know-who's comeback for an entire year. He had been back for over a year! The minister was, of course, by the publics demand fired immediately.

A lot of people now wanted Dumbledore as the new minister, but he had refused. His place in life was at Hogwarts. A lot of people had actually voted for James, because of his background. A Potter, who come from a long line of heroes to the magical world. Chief Auror. He was an attractive man. He got offers everyday by at least dusin very attractive women, but with his beautiful Lily at home, he never even gave it a thought. Honest, loyal and obviously one of the good guys. Devoted father of eight children, including Harry Potter-wizard hero and saviour of the good side. James would be the obvious choice after Dumbledore, since Dumbledore and James' father, had trained James and Sirius the year after they gratuated, as mages. A more controlled version of hitwizards. They had learnt how to control, summon and exspand their magic.

James, hating paperwork just about as much as he hated Harry's scar, turned the offer down right away. But he did suggest another candidate. A man who never seemed to let stress take him over. A man with a good family and a fondness of muggles. Mr. Weasley of course. James had always thought it was amazing, how impartial Mr. Weasley was. Justice before all. This was his motto. He could see things from both parties involved.

The reporters had asked James why he turned down the minister offer. "I'm not the right one for the job. I don't have time to play minister, when I should be spending my time trying to capture the bastard, who tried to kill my son. There is, however someone who would be a brilliant minster. He is probably even tougher about the fairness of Justice System then Dumbledore. If you want a fair minister, who is honest and blunt, then vote for Arthur Weasley!"

Mr. Weasley had been furious with James. He was very happy with his job a head of the Abuse of Muggle artefacts. It may not pay as much an auror, but he was happy there. James pointed out that Arthur could improve the relationship between the two worlds as a minister. Just as long as he kept being the eccentric happy going Arthur everybody knew him as.

So Mr. Weasley was the newly appointed minister of Magic. The Weasley became quite popular family. Also because of their friendship with The Potter family and the good Blacks family (Sirius and Mary)

James' train of thought was broken, when several voices carried themselves all the way across the mansion and out to the terrece.

"We're home!"

"Hey Lils! They're back. And well fed, I might add! They ate nearly everything in the house!"

"Mum? Dad? We're back!"

"Hey look! Dad's sitting out there!"

James got up and walked into the house to greet his children. They were all caring their sleep-over-bags.

"DADDY!" Little Sami had wriggled her way out of big brother Harry's arms and was running...or jumping? towards her father. Whatever it was she was doing, her hair was flying everywhere.

"Sami!" James yelled and threw his little three year old daughter up in the air, caught the giggling girl and hugged her tight.

"Daddy, you swuashing me!" Came the muttered complaint from the little girl. James released his daugther from his death grib of a hug and turned to greet the rest of the family.

"Welcome home everybody! Hope you did guys did not suffer to much in the presence of Padfoot!"

"Hey! I resent that! Everybody loves me! I'm as close to perfection as anyone can get!" Came the offended response.

Mary turned to look at her husband. "Of course you are dear. Don't worry James. I guarantee you and Lily are going to enjoy tonight. I think Si here did the impossible. He wore out your children! No more extra energi for tonight. Speaking of Lils, Where is she?"

Jonathan looked up at his father, "Yeah dad. Where is she?...You guys didn't have another fight, did you? Because if you did, I want to sleep at Padfoots again. I seriously don't want to be around if she's mad. She's scary, when she's mad! And the making up part is really disgusting, you know. The kissing and the groping. You are aware that you and mum have mentally damaged all of your children with bad mental pictures 'cept Sami, right? I propose that we kidnap our littlesister in order to save her mind for all bad mental pictures she is bound to experience here with all the kissing and groping. It's too late to save Andy, but we can still save Sami! All those in favour?"

Seven hands rose into the hair. All expect little Sami, who was busy playing with her feet and was not aware of what was happening around her.

James smiled at his son's remark. He knew the children didn't mind him and Lily kissing. Cat had once told him and Lily that she never understood, until she left for Hogwarts, why other childrens parents did not kiss as much as hers did. She thought that it was cute that her parent after all those years still acted like they were still teenagers. As long as they didn't make out during meals. That was just disgusting.

"No, we did not have a fight. Your mother had a little too much to drink last night, so did I for that matter. Lily is still sleeping. I think she might have caught a virus or something from when Sami was sick a little while back. She looks a little sick. If you want to play upstairs, be quiet. Mary, Padfoot. Hana is making lunch, so if you want you are more than welcome to join us?"

"I have an appointment in half an hour, so no thanks, but knowing my husband and the fact that he thinks with his stomach, he will probably be delighted!" Mary replied.

Sirius looked down on his wife and smiled; "I knew there was a reason I married you. I love you. You know me so well!" He bent down and gave her a long kiss, which quickly turned rather…let's just say it would be rated PG13 at least.

All the kids groaned in mock disgust! James even heard little Andrew mutter "there goes breakfast," under his breath.

Deciding to save his youngest son's appetite, James exclaimed "Let's have lunch everybody!"

Hana being Hana had, when she heard that the great and noble Massa Sirius was staying for lunch, of course exaggerated her light lunch. It turned out to be very big gourmet dinner with almost everything ones heart could possible desire.

Unfortunately Lily was still asleep and protested quite a lot, when James attempted to wake her up, so being the caring husband that he was, he let his wife be and hoped that she could sleep off the virus or whatever it was that was after her.

Sirius and James played quidditch out in the small quidditch pitch in the garden with all the children-even Sami, who sat in front of James on his broom and Andrew sat in front of his uncle Sirius.

James had always known that all the children were talented in quidditch-even J.J, but had never seen this side of them before. The I'm-going–to-knock-you-of-that-damn-broom-if-you-get-anywhere-near-me-competitive side that Lily also had. The NO MERCY policy was really kicking in and the fact that they were all in the same family did not matter at all. This resulted in to broken arms and large gash in the head, but being an auror demanded that Sirius and James knew a lot about healing, so everyone were patched together in no time.

After spending the entire evening playing with the children and telling them stories with Sirius about their days in Hogwarts, James noticed Harry was being unusually quiet, especailly with Sirius around. The clock was now approaching one o'clock in the morning and James decided to send five children to bed and asked them to take a sleeping Sami and snoring very loudly Andrew with them. Srius took his leave and apparated back to to the Blacks house, leaving only James and Harry left. To clean all the mess up they made through out the evening, which was probably the reason why the others were so quick to leave for bed. Calling and therefore waking the cleaning elf would just be rude. Lily had made a rule in the house; if you made a mess after dinner, you cleaned it up yourself. Whincky (the cleaning elf had the nights off)So now James and Harry were forced to clan of the living room at one o'clock

A perfect opportunity to have one of their famous father-son talks that almost everytime ended with James cracking a joke before everything got too emotional or weird. James may be a sensetive guy, but there are certain talks that every man is uncomfortable talking about. Like the time when Harry and James had THE TALK. Oy, talk about being uncomfortable! He actually stuttered through out most of the bloody conversation! He stuttered!

James had not stuttered since he asked Lily to move in with him.

Asking Lily out…no stuttering at all, since he was 15-years-old and acting rather cocky all the time and could not afford to mess up his image by looking nervous!

Asking Lily to move in with him-a little stuttering, but only just enough to show that he was nervous about her answer.

Proposing…not a problem-no stuttering!

Having THE talk with his first born child..Stuttering and being uncomfortable?

You bet!

Thank Merlin; Lily had to talk with the twins!

James looked over to see his eldest son pick up empty coke cans and throwing them in a vanshing bag. Lily, being muggleborn was addicted to soda and had influenced all of her children with her addiction. One thing was sure in the Potter Hosehold. There are always sodas in the house. Hana knew better than not having sodas in the house…it was a must have, whenever she went to the market.

"Ah Harry? I noticed that you weren't very talkative this evening. In fact you were unusually quiet, which is very weird for you, whenever Padfoot is around. Is there something you want to talk about?" James asked Harry.

"Ahh…yeah, actually there is, but I'm afraid you'll start teasing me…and I don't want to be teased about this subject." Harry said.

"Oh, so this is about a girl." James said as though he was stating the obvious.

"How did you know that? I didn't say anything about what I wanted to talk about." Harry asked his father amazed.

James chuckled. Harry was the exact copi of James in his youth.

"Harry, there is one thing you have to know about adults. When we become parents, we are blessed with the parental power, which allows us to know almost everything about our children. We know so much more than you all give us credit for.

For example I know that Josie has been dating the same boy for almost six months. (Unfortunately!) This is very unusual for her, but your mother gave her some advices last time everybody was home. Now, this does not please me at all, but your mother threathen to curse a certain lower part of my body, if I scare off the boy."

Harry winced, knowning all to well that his mother always followed through on her threats! 'Thank Merlin, it's not me Harry thought and made a gesture with his head that said please continue.´

James did as his son gestured him to do.

"I know that a second year pureblooded Ravenclaw asked your sister Lizzie out, but luckily for me you convinced him that he might be more interessted in some third year Gryffindor girl you tutor. Thanks for that, by the way. I don't think Liz knows that you're the one who scared him away.

JJ is pissed beyond belief that all the girls wants to be his friend, but never anything else.

Johnnie is the one who assaulted that Malfoy kid you don't like with paint as revenge. He did something to you that landed you in detention, I've not figured out what exactly that is yet, but I will.

Cat actually dated a Slytherin for awhile. Nobody knew about it and it only lasted a week. Thank Merlin for that. I really didn't like that kid!

And I know that you, my son, have inherited the Potter trait of black unruly hair, ("thanks for that unwanted trait dad!" Harry muttered under his breath) quidditch talent and of course the deadly serious attraction to redheads. And I just so happen to now that you have been spending a lot time with a certain redhead from a certain wizard family we all love. You like Ginny and you want to ask her out, but you're afraid she'll say no, aren't you?"

"How in Grindlewalls ugly looking beard (a wizardring saying like: how the hell did you do that?)did you do that?" Harry asked his father once agin amazed.

"Never underestimate the parental power-that-be son."

"It's not like I haven't been one a date before.

I…just…I just…I mean………….I don't think I can handle a rejection from her.

I need her friendship. I need her in my life in someway. But she's not eleven anymore, the crush on me is gone. If she says no, things won't be the same ever again…and I need her Dad!"

"Well, you have to ask yourself this Harry, Can you live with the fact you have her friendship but she's dating other boy...eh…men, sorry. Or will you risk everything and take the chance and ask her out? If she says no, then you'll know that you at least tried or you can pull another Potter trait out of you sleeve."

A confused Harry asked his father

"Another Potter trait?"

"You know how I got your mother. She didn't exactly fall for my good looks and charm like every other girl in school. Your mother was the one girl who didn't want anything remotely romantic to do with me. Be my friend, sure but girlfriend, hell no! That only made me want her even more and the hunt for your mother's heart had begun. It took me over three years to get her to go out with me, but the result of the hunting was well worth the wait. Now if she says no, then start the hunt for her heart. I've seen the two of you together, Harry you won't be sorry for the wait."

Silence

…More silence

Even more Silence

"Thanks for the advice dad. I'm glad we talked."

"Me too son. Now, the living room is all cleaned up, so your mother won't threathen to behead us tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's a good thing. I think I'll go to bed. Night dad."

Harry rose and began walking towards the stairs, but was interrupted by his fathers voice

"Harry?"

He turned around to look at James.

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do…you know…with Ginny?"

Silence once again and then Harry smirked. James recognized that smirk. It was his smirk…the Potter smirk.

"Well dad, as you put it; Let the hunt begin! I won't accept no for an answer."

And with that Harry went up the stairs, leaving his father reminded of his own hunt for his wife's heart.

Suddenly the family need for Lily was there.

Once again it was there.

James smiles at the thought of Lily and raced up the stairs with the sudden need to see his lovely wife.

James opened the door to the bedroom.

There she was…with hair spread over her head like one of those big Chinese fans.

Out like a light and had been that way all day.

It must be quite virus.

James stripped down to his boxers and quietly snuck under the covers, so he could get into his alltime favorite sleeping position-spooning his wife from behind.

With a hand resting on Lily's stomach, James snuggled even closer to her.

She feels softer than she did when we were Harry's age. I guess that's what eight childbirths do to women; however, this is really not a thing!´

The hand resting on the stomach travelled up to cup the right breast.

James smiled against a softly snoring Lily's neck and closed his eyes and thought back on the day that had just gone by.

I guess this was just another day at the Potter House.´

**A/N I need a beta reader. Anyone interessted, let me know. SOON!**


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